Far From Home
by LeedleLeedle
Summary: While the Time War rages, Lord President Rassilon sends his young daughter, Terezi, to Earth where she lands in a very wrong time. But with her quick wit, she manages to survive until the twenty-first century. Now the Apocalypse is upon them and it's up to her and a certain team of hunters to survive long enough to stop it.
1. Chapter 1

**_Chapter 1_**

**Emerging Memories**

_"Go," my father said as he ushered me through the doorway to the single-trip TARDIS. I may have been only 12, but that doesn't mean that I didn't know what was going on. He was sending me away. Yes, it was for my own safety, but I wasn't raised to run away from my problems. I was always taught to face them like those of true noble blood should. _

_ I saw the room my father was pushing me towards. I didn't want to go there though. It was the room that was to take my away from my home and never bring me back. I struggled against the strength of his hands pushing me into the control room and tried to escape out the door as he set the coordinates to some planet far away. I knew it wouldn't be like home. Nothing could ever be like this wonderful old plane with its silver forests, twin suns, and red grass fields. Nothing would bring my friends to visit this other—probably desolate—planet so far from home. But my struggles came to no avail as I saw my only father cover his face in a mask as a sleeping gas filled the room. _

_ I passed out soon after I realized what was happening._

_ When I awoke, I was strapped to a seat too far away from the control panel for my child's arms to reach. But the monitor was in full view. I was already nearly to the planet that would soon become my new home. I noticed that there was a holo-message saved on the drive. I pressed the 'view' button on the armrest of my chair and saw a life-sized image of my father appear. He looked very worried._

_ "Papa?" I asked in a small voice even though I knew he couldn't possibly hear me._

_"I'm sorry it had to come to this, Terenzi. I wanted to at least say good bye in person, but this is the next best thing," his deep voice sounded slightly rushed along with the usual worry that had recently crept into it in the past few years since the Time War started. I felt a pang of guilt hit me like a hammer to the gut as I realized one of the consequences of my struggling. "I hope you know that I did not want to send you away; quite the opposite, really. You were one of the few things keeping me strong in this endless, bitter war. The afternoons will never be the same without you there to chatter about your exploits at the academy. That's one thing I will surely miss the most." Those cheerful memories tore through my heart like daggers as I realized the implications of the finality in his voice. _

_ Then a male voice in the background spoke up as if it were talking from the intercom, "Sir, the daleks are about to attack again. We need you in the counsel room as soon as possible." Then it was gone. Father turned ever so slightly towards the door, as if he was just going to go like that. But then he turned back to me. "I'm sorry, Terenzi. For everything. Just know that I did what I though was in your best interests. I still think that this is what's best."_

_ I could help myself any longer. "But papa! I would be fine!" I yelled through my tears._

_ The, as if he could actually hear me, he said, "No. Terenzi. You could not stay. There is something I never told you about this war. It's not just another Time War. In the prophecies it was always called "The Last Time War" and now I'm starting to believe it was called that for good reason. Now go. You should be nearly to Earth. Start a new life. For me. For your mother. You are very young so will adapt easily. You will have a very long life ahead of you. And stay out of trouble! Now, I have to go. I'm sorry Terenzi. I hope you can forgive me and not dwell on the war for too long. Good bye. I love—" His message was cut short by the shaking of the building and static. That must have been the attack the soldier had been talking about._

_ "Good bye, Papa," I whispered as his image disappeared, my eyes beginning to tear up._

_ I just sat there for a while, crying at the loss of my entire family. First my mother had to go when I was eight. I may not have known her long by the standards of our species, but it was enough to leave me heartbroken. I moved on enough to at least seem happy even through the constant attacks, but then my brother had died when the daleks invaded the smaller city he had moved to. Now my father had sent me away. And with an attack that could shake the capitol building like that, not many were to survive. I was the only one in my family left. And if Father was dead, that meant that I had inherited his title of Lord-President._

_ As this realization settled on me, the monitor changed to what appeared to be live footage of Gallifrey. A blue box I would assume to be a TARDIS flew just out of sight as the entire planet disappeared. With the red and orange that the land had been it looked like it had just exploded in my young mind. Then there was a slight bump and the belts holding me to the chair went lax and I could finally get up. I didn't want to; every fiber of me wanted to just stay there and weep, but then I remembered Father's last message to me. "Start a new life. For me. For your mother." I knew that I owed this to him. I had to move along with my life. How bad could this planet really be, anyway? As I walked over to the doors of the TARDIS, I took a deep breath to calm the butterflies in my stomach. My hearts beat much faster than normal. I wasn't ready to leave all that I knew to be home, but I knew that I had to. I took another slow breath and opened the doors with no more hesitation. And saw—_

But that's when I woke up.


	2. Moving On

Chapter 2

Moving On

I'd been having the same memory of a dream for weeks now. Every night, but the only difference is that it has never gone on that long. I wondered if dreaming the full memory was some kind of omen as to what was to come. More than 1,100 years later and I can still picture it clearly as if I had only been sent away from my warring home planet yesterday.

Earth wasn't too bad. The lack of technology bothered me when I had first gotten here because I was young, but just like Father said in his last message, I adapted to the new way of life quickly. I even managed to hotwire the 'single-use' TARDIS to make multiple trips. I had been traveling about the planet in different times for over a thousand years now. I saw everything from the formation to the death of the blue planet. In all honesty, it was quite beautiful. When I was younger, I thought the greenness of the grass and the single sun strange, but I knew not to ask the people of the planet about either of the anomalies. When I landed—well I say landed; it was more like crashing lightly—the peoples of this earth seemed to be just taking their first steps in civilization. Instead of the great cities that I had become accustomed to, there were merely small villages dotting the rolling green hills.

The dominant species (which the monitor had called 'humans') looked at me weirdly when I walked into their village looking for parts to convert and hijack my ship. Although, that may be because I was still wearing the clothing of the Lord-President's family. From the blood-red cloak to the gold embroidered head piece, I obviously did not belong here. But a kind woman saw that I looked like one of the young humans running about and essentially adopted me.

I lived in her house and became close friends with her daughter who was named Serenity. She didn't accept me at first, but her curiosity got the better of her and she started asking me about my life before I came here. I knew I probably shouldn't tell her the truth, but she was young and would probably just think that they were just stories anyway. I guess that's all we are in then end anyway, right? Just stories. So I told her about Gallifrey and its glories. About the war and the great bloodbath that resulted. About my best friend committing genocide (that was when we were older, though), and finally about my family. She never tired of my stories of running through the fields during the warm days until we reached Mount Perdition. She always thought that they were wondrous fairy tales. But then she got older and it started to show. I aged right along with her, but not in appearance. I think that's when she really started to believe my stories.

I had told her that we don't age at the speed of normal humans. And that when she died, I wouldn't be able to follow. I guess I could have, but 67 was much too young to die when I could live for thousands of years. I not only had to leave my home and everything I knew, but I had to bury my only sister and best friend when she died looking 45 years older than I did. It was a difficult time after that having lost everything close to me. Now it wasn't only my home that was gone; it was all of my friends and my family.

But she had always told me not to be alone; that alone would hurt me. And she was right. I blamed myself for the death of my people and the disappearance of my planet. Even though it was in reality the Doctor who had set off the bomb, I was the one who told him to do it and helped him through what little security we had left guarding it. But, there was nothing I could do about it now. No use dwelling on the past, for there is no way to change them without a functioning TARDIS or a vortex manipulator. Which I had neither and judging by the simple lifestyles and primitive technology of the humans around me, neither did they.

Now, I guess would be a good time to leave. As long as I'm stuck here, I may as well explore a bit. Although, before I go walking off into the sunset, I think I'll find a way to make a tracker for the small emergency TARDIS that I had gotten here in. It was plain white, but unlike the full TARDIS's, it was a small cube rather than a cylinder. I hadn't gone near it since the day I arrived and befriended Serenity. It never felt right to show her this wonderful yet, to me, dreaded machine. Now, it feels like I betrayed her and let her die without knowing that there was more out there than any of her people could ever know about. In fact, it almost felt taboo to be going back there after all those years. But, there was nothing to do now but go back. This could be a dangerous machine if it fell into the wrong, yet highly intelligent hands. Although, I think that a true TimeLord would be needed to just pilot it, much less hijack it from its one-use-only state, and they're all dead. Except me. Maybe the Doctor if he managed to successfully detonate the time lock from far enough away.

After I tinkered with the console a little bit, I managed to get a small bracelet that was able to track this particular TARDIS. Now I can leave without looking back and without feeling like there was unfinished business to attend to. And so I pack a bag with some necessary supplies from the village I had been staying in such as food and the like.

Now that I have some time to think alone, i may as well take advantage of it. It's very early in this planet's timeline compared to my own. There were few schools; parents taught their own children here. At least in this small village they did. When I was back home, I had just barely started my years at the academy. Four years was hardly enough time to learn anything other than average reading and math. Not to mention the Gallifreyan policies that were drilled into our heads. But when I was eight, I still had to look into the Untempered Schism and into the time vortex itself. My father had said that what I saw would make me into a good leader when the time came. I guess my time just hasn't begun yet because I don't see how the images I saw are going to help me where I am; travelling alone across an unfamiliar planet so very far from home. But, I ponder them no less than before. In a dark and twisted way, I guess I'm glad that I was sent here. Ruling an entire planet didn't always seem appealing to me. But, as my father before me, I would have to face up to my responsibilities..

I really need to stop thinking about Gallifrey now. My head is starting to ache with homesickness, but I needed to get to the next village. Soon, a small settlement rose up in front of me on the hills of early England. I stayed there for a few years while nothing of import happened. by the time I left, people were beginning to get suspicious of my rate of aging. By now I was approaching my hundredth birthday in human years. Still fairly young by the standards of the Gallifreyans, but older than probably every human on this strange green and blue planet seeing as they only seem to live for 40 to 60 years, if that. By this time, some villages had developed into small cities and kingdoms were emerging. I kept walking through the woods and fields, trading what little I had for necessities such as food. A few days after breaking the triple digit age, I saw a small town rising up in a plain about a league ahead of me. I picked up the pace so as to get there quicker; I was beginning to suffer from fatigue because the forests weren't safe and made it hard to sleep. I really hoped someone would take me in at least for the night. After that, I could keep going on my own. I found it hard to get attached after my friends and Earth family died, but I was always told not to be alone, so perhaps I could make another friendship somewhere along the line. As I approached, a teenage boy also ran out with to greet me. He looked no older than 15 which (according to the people of the previous town) was how old I looked also. I have not aged much since landing on earth. He ran up and I immediately knew that he was not like the others. I could tell that greeting newcomers wasn't exactly normal for him, but was not completely unlike him. Perhaps they just didn't get many possible new residents-to-be way out here. It wouldn't be surprising if this was the case because I had traveled at a decent speed for days to get here.

"Hello! I'm Merlin!" he said cheerfully as he stuck his hand out for a handshake. "Welcome to Ealdor!"

"Hi," I said, cautiously taking his hand. "I'm Terenzi."

He led me into the town telling me not to be shy and that everyone around here knew each other. I could tell that he had grown up here by the way he walked me around so confidently and comfortably. He seemed very excited to have a new person within the population. Perhaps he didn't have many friends?

"It's a bit late for the 'grand tour' but I'm sure you can stay at mine and my mother's house for a while." I noticed he didn't say anything along the lines of "until you get a place of your own" or "for a few days". And I guess it was getting dark. I liked him, despite his child-like cheeriness. He led me to a small hut on the edge of town. It was on the complete other side of the village, but to be fair, it also wasn't all that big. He walked in the front door and beckoned me inside, too. Within, there was a middle-aged woman with kind eyes whom I presumed to be his mother.

"Hello. Did you make a new friend, Merlin? I'm Hunith, by the way," she greeted and immediately questioned warmly. The way she asked him made it sound as if he didn't make friends often.

"Yeah, mom. This is Terenzi. She's new in town and I was wondering if she could stay with us for a while?" he said in a casual tone.

"It's nice to meet you. Like he said, I've just travelled here from a small town not far back." I tried to make it sound like I wasn't your run of the mill traveler. I knew how mothers could fuss and I didn't really need that now after just coming to a new place.

"The nearest town is two days away by foot, dear. That is, you weren't riding, were you?" she said, a concerned look beginning to creep onto her face.

"No, mom. But it's getting late anyway. Is it almost time for dinner? I'm famished," Merlin quickly said, guessing my mood. I didn't want to be rude, but at the same time, I wasn't quite sure how to proceed. As Hunith started preparing dinner, Merlin said, "So can she stay here for a while, mom? Please?"

I detected a hint of desperation in his voice. Hunith replied without even turning around, "Of course, dear. You know we're always happy to help when we can."

Supper was excellent. It was vegetarian, which I wasn't quite used to, but I figured that they just didn't have very much meat to spare. After, Merlin led me to where he slept on the floor. He offered me a blanket to sleep on. I kindly refused as I had a bedroll in my pack. He and his mother were so kind. So when we were talking later, even though I suspected it, I was shocked to hear that he didn't have many friends around here. He even said that he was planning to move to Camelot.

"Is Camelot another village?" I asked.

"You lived near here and you don't know what Camelot is? It's the capital of the Pendragon kingdom."

"Sorry, but I'm really not from around here."

"It's fine. I don't mind explaining anything. All you need to do is ask. Hey, you aren't, by any chance, a sorcerer, are you?"

"Not by human standards, nor my own."

"Oh. Okay. I probably shouldn't have said that…" he trailed off. Then he really thought about what I said, "Wait, you saying 'not by human standards, nor my own' implies that you aren't human."

"Yes it does."

"So, I don't mean to sound rude, but, what are you then?"

"I'm a TimeLord. It's an alien race from your perspective."

"So, when you said that you 'weren't from around here' you didn't mean that you were just from another town. You meant that…"

"I'm from a whole other planet. Yes. Although I did live in a couple other towns before coming here."

"Right. So there are other worlds out there? Beyond what we can see from here?"

"Oh, yeah. There are so many out there. I don't think humans will find alien life other than me for a very long while, though. When you asked if I was a sorcerer, it sounded as if you were asking if I was one of your kind. Does that then mean that you are a sorcerer?"

"I…uh…yes," he stuttered like it was a big secret that he wasn't really supposed to tell. "Please don't turn me in to the King." He looked up at me with eyes filled with fear.

"Woah, there. Calm down. Your secret is safe with me. But why is it such a secret? Is sorcery not allowed, or something?" I said putting my hand on his shoulder in effort to calm him down.

"Yes, but I can't really help it. I was born like this."

"I know the feel. You're born into something and suddenly people are always treating you differently because of it."

"What were you treated differently for?"

"I was born to be the second ruler of my people. My father was the first Lord President and was the founder of our society. I would have to live up to pretty high expectations if any of them had lived to have them."

"What do you mean 'if any had lived'?"

So I started explaining my past to another human. I don't know why I trusted him so quickly. Maybe it was the hand of kindness that he had reached out. Maybe he put me under a spell-he was a sorcerer, after all-but I don't think he would have done that. The most likely reason was that we were so alike.

"There was a great war between my people and the Daleks-another alien race- that was close to indestructible and could feel nothing but hate. They were constantly attacking…"

A/N: I know I said this story was going to be about Terenzi meeting the Winchesters, but the Winchesters weren't alive when she landed on earth a while before medieval England. I know I'm going a bit slow, but this is my first fic! Please review! Let me know anything I do wrong. Sorry I didn't update this sooner; my school computer (the only one I can use) wont let me go to the site. Luckily my phone will let me copy and paste even though it's a rather tedious process.


	3. Making 'Friends'

Chapter 3

Days passed. Then the days turned into weeks and the weeks flew by. Merlin became a brother to me much like Serenity had. Hunith essentially adopted me as her second child even though I was technically much older than her. She also took this information as if it were normal, but I guess with he only son being the embodiment of magic itself, nothing really could get too weird for her. A couple years went by and Merlin and I set out to go to Camelot. It was a fairly long journey-especially by foot-but the journey itself wasn't too bad. We swapped stories of our childhood that we both already knew. And when it was silent, it was a comfortable silence. At night, we set up camp. And that's when things went very wrong.

We were attacked in the middle of the night by a band of bandits. Merlin put up a fairly good fight with what he could manage of his magic. I did what I could through hand to hand, but a few had weapons.

"Go!" Merlin yelled to me from across our clearing where he was surrounded. The bandits had realized that they were attacking a sorcerer and decided that I was the lesser threat.

"I won't leave you!" I yelled back. I could see his eyes glowing gold in the dark and men flying away or tripping on a branch that wasn't there before. It was magnificent how he was already able to control his powers so well. While I was looking at him, a sharp pain ripped through my stomach. I looked down to see a blade protruding from my abdomen. I could already tell that this was a fatal wound that even he wouldn't be able to heal. Not yet anyway.

He looked over just long enough to see me crumble to the ground. Things were starting to get blurry, but I could still hear his cry of anguish before I closed my eyes.

I was fighting my hardest and I could tell that Terenzi was trying to be helpful with what she had, but I could already tell that this was going to end badly for her if she didn't leave. My eyes were probably a constant shade of gold by now with all the magic I'd been using. I sent one more wave of our assailants flying back to give me enough time to yell, "Go!" to her. I thought I heard her reply but I couldn't make out what she said. IN reality, I guess there really weren't that many of them, but I had never been in a major fight before, much less an all-out fight for our lives. If I had taken the time to count, there would probably about 15 attackers.

But there was one I could not see.

He crept up behind Terenzi while she was fending off an attack from another. I had tried to keep their attention on me, but not all of them stayed with me after a few failed attacks. Neither of us saw the man who slunk behind her. Neither of us saw his sword. Only after did we realize what was happening. Someone within the group of bandits sensed that I was a sorcerer and possibly even that she wasn't human and decided that we could be a threat. A threat that they had to take out by force.

I looked over in time to watch her be impaled by his sword and to see her start to crumble to the ground with a shocked expression plastered on her face. Now not only fear for her life, but rage blazed through me enough to amplify my powers. My magic became more potent and the bandits soon realized they had made a mistake in attacking us. I threw them back as hard as I could. It wouldn't kill them; just render them unconscious long enough for me to tend to her wound; she wouldn't have wanted me to kill them. I was also bleeding profusely on my arms, but I didn't care. Terenzi was faring much worse than just a few scratches.

I ran over to her, but too late, it seemed. She lay on the ground with her eyes closed, but as I leaned down, I could still hear her breathing. It was ragged, but she was still alive. I had to do what I could for her. I created a small light to hang beside me so that I could at least see what I was doing. I slowly pulled the blade out of her and pressed my scarf to her back. The bleeding needed to stop before I could do much else. Lifted her shirt just enough to uncover the wound. It didn't look bad from the outside, but I knew that the real damage was within. I gently put my hand on her forehead. She was running a fever that was even higher than her normal temperature and it was slowly getting warmer. I pulled a small rag out of my travel pack and got it wet in a nearby pool of water and pressed it to her forehead to help counter the heat. Now there was just the main wound to deal with. But I didn't know any healing magic. At that moment, her eyes fluttered open.

"Merlin?" she whispered.

"I'm here," I replied. I knew she wasn't going to make it. Even now, I was fighting back tears.

"Are you hurt?" Even now she was concerned about me rather than herself.

"I'm fine," I replied. My mother had told me to try to keep the mood light even in the darkest of times, so I added, "You, not so much."

"Look at my hands." That was a strange request, but I obliged. I gasped when I saw them. They were beginning to glow golden. I guess she saw my reaction and knew what was going on, because she chuckled lightly before wincing in pain. "It's starting. Help me up?"

"What's starting exactly?" I asked helping her stand while keeping most of her weight on me. She tried to stand on her own but winced and almost fell back. I looked down and realized that she must've gotten her foot caught in a root or something of the sort when she fell, because her leg was clearly broken.

"Regeneration. My first. I don't think I told you about it. But right now I need to stand on my own, and I need you to back up." I helped her lean against a tree to keep of her bad leg, but I could see that it already seemed to be healing. Once she was standing alone, and I had backed up cautiously, she said, "I'll tell you more about it when its over, but I can't really hold this in."

Then she spread her arms and burst into golden light.

Regeneration hurts. More than the elder TimeLords let on. But I guess it could've hurt worse, what with it rewriting every cell in my body. It felt good in the beginning: warmth spreading through my limbs and healing my wounds, both internal and external. But then I got to the part where I changed. I didn't particularly want to; I liked my 17-year-old body with dark curly hair. The green eyes were a plus, too. The gold flecks in my eyes looked especially good with my dark hair. Maybe if I concentrate hard enough, I can keep one of those traits. That was a myth in the textbooks. However, those were also written by TimeLords much older and experienced than me. This was only my first while they had probably regenerated 10 or 11 times. Nevertheless, I tried as best I could to concentrate on keeping my green and gold eyes.

Through the pain, and, quite frankly, fear, I managed to keep somewhat silent. That is, until the final push came. That's when everything in my physical appearance actually changed. I felt my hair grow longer and I seemed to get a bit taller. When it finally appeared to end, I looked down. I certainly was taller with brown, wavy hair swirling past my shoulders. From what I could tell, I was paler than before. I probably looked to be about 23 or 24 in human years now.

Oh, no. My personality changed, too. What will Merlin think? I thought as I slowly looked up at him staring wide-eyed at me.

"I can explain," I said quickly as he seemed to struggle for words, opening and closing his mouth a few times. Like a fish. I thought before starting my explanation, "It's the regeneration process. Whenever a TimeLord is on the verge of—"

"I realize what just happened, Terenzi. The only thing I want to know is: Are you okay?"

"Okay? You want to know if I'm okay? That whole light display and the changing of bodies and you only want to know if I'm okay?" I snapped unexpectedly and immediately put my hand to my mouth. "I'm sorry. I don't know what that was. Must be the start of my new personality showing through."

"Woah, woah, woah. New personality?"

"Yeah. Everything changes during regeneration. Sometimes even gender."

"Okay. Right. Well, this is certainly new. I'll have to figure out who the new you is on the inside as well as getting used to your new look."

"I'm sorry," I said looking down slightly.

"Hey, you don't have any reason to be sorry."

"Yes, I do. You told me to go, but I didn't and now we have this to deal with and now we'll probably be late arriving to Camelot."

"That's okay. I doubt we'll be late anyway. We should get moving before these guys start to wake up. We can talk on the way." I liked how he was comforting me even though I shouldn't be the one freaking out about this. We started walking toward Camelot which was visible just over the horizon. Then, as if he read my mind, he said, "You have every right to be freaking out. This was your first time, wasn't it?"

"Yes. But I don't like to freak out about something that is normal for my people while you have never seen anything remotely like this before and are keeping a completely cool head about this."

"You still have that strange accent."

"Do I, now?"

"Yeah. What did it feel like?"

"Warmth while it was healing. And then pain."

At this, he stopped and turned to me with a confused look. "Why would it hurt?"

I also turned to face him. "Merlin, the whole thing about regeneration is that it saves your life, but at a cost. It rewrites every cell in your body and completely changes everything. The only thing you really keep is your name and your memories. Usually even some of those are lost in the process."

We went back to walking. "Oh. How many times can you do that? I'm sure you can't just go on living forever and just renewing yourself every couple hundred years, can you?"

"Of course not. We can live through 13 bodies or 12 regenerations. After that, if you get killed, you die."

"Is there any other way to kill TimeLords other that just waiting for their regenerations to run out?"

"If we are killed during the main regeneration process which you just saw there, we will stay dead. By now, it's too late. I'll be practically invincible for a few hours."

"Hmm…" He simply said, signifying that the conversation was over.

I walked with him all the way to Camelot.

When we arrived, the first thing we saw take place within the walls was an execution. Drums were struck, the king spoke, and a man was executed in the middle of the square. There was also a woman who cursed the king before she disappeared in a cloud of smoke and wind. We went immediately after to see our new guardian, Gaius, the court physician, even though I technically didn't need a guardian and if nothing else, I could look after Merlin to make sure he doesn't get in too much trouble. He was surprised to see us, saying that we were early and that we shouldn't be there until Wednesday. We exchanged a look and Merlin awkwardly said, "It is Wednesday." At this, Gaius simply said, "Ah. Is it really?" I nodded. He was fairly old, with long, white hair and wrinkles adorning his face. His quarters held a simple bed and shelves and tables covered in bottles, books, and herbs.

"There's a room upstairs with two beds in it. You don't mind sharing, do you?" he said gesturing to the back of the room where there was a small staircase leading to a door was.

"Thanks, Gaius," we both said as we made our way across the room.

We stayed up late that night talking as Merlin tried to figure out my new persona. According to him, I was now funny, seemed like I was now hiding something, and really sarcastic, but also very serious when I would need to be. we eventually fell asleep in our respective beds and the next morning we ventured out into the upper town.

It was a very busy morning for the people of Camelot. Many citizens were out and about in the town taking care of usual business, or even just walking around looking in all the shops. Almost no one was idle. We were walking down what seemed to be the main road when I saw it. It was a scarf-thing shop, but more importantly, there was a mirror there. I still hadn't see my new form. I walked up to it, mesmerized by what I saw. I now had deep grey-blue eyes and a sharper face shape. I was pale, but my hair was dark brown with accents ranging from a lighter brown to ginger in it and was indeed very wavy. My hands were leaner, not as childlike as before. Merlin walked up behind me and only then did I realize how much taller I had actually gotten. I had at least an inch and a half on him when I had previously been that much shorter.

The man running the small shop looked up at me while I was staring awe-struck into the small mirror. He bent down under the table his merchandise was on and retrieved a small ornamental comb. he offered it to me and said, "A comb for the pretty lady?"

"Thank you, but we can't afford it," I said nicely after looking around me to make sure he was actually talking to me.

"It's no problem. Have it free of charge," he insisted, holding the comb closer to me.

"Thank you, but we really couldn't,"

he took my hand and pushed the hair accessory into it. "Take it. I insist."

"Thank you." And with that I pulled a section of my hair up and pinned strangely kind man smiled as we walked away.

"You seem to be quite popular here," Merlin commented as we continued trekking through the vast city.

"The new appearance really helps," I said wondering what he could be getting at. We were now passing the training grounds for the knights and a group of them were practicing knife throwing. The target they seemed to be aiming for was a young servant holding a large wooden target on his back about the size of a table. The one who seemed to be the center of the knights was blond and giving the servant orders as he and the rest of the group laughed. The man holding the target began to run back and forth as the blond one threw knives at him, on target nearly every time. That's when Merlin felt it was time to intervene. He walked right into the middle and told the blond one to stop. I sighed and followed him. I got there just in time to see him be pulled into a headlock.

"Stop that," I demanded putting as much authority as I could in my voice.

"Two strangers standing up to me, eh? If this is Merlin, then who might you be?" The blond man said looking me straight in the eye.

"I'm Terenzi and you are a prat." The rest of his group started laughing at that. They must know something we don't.

"A prat?! Do you know who you are talking to?" he scoffed.

"My guess would be that you are the prince," I said almost smugly but full of confidence, refusing to back down. I kept eye contact while he looked taken aback. He'd let Merlin go, but he hadn't left.

"How did you know that if you are new to the kingdom?" Now even Merlin and the rest in the prince's group were silent and looking at me.

"It's a bit obvious. You have better armor than the others, you have near perfect knife throwing skills as if you'd been trained since you were very young, these guys flock around you like you are their leader, and above all, you act like the biggest prat I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. And you just confirmed my suspicions by asking how I knew and then by looking impressed when I shared my knowledge."

"I will admit that was impressive. I think I'll even ignore the fact that you called me a prat," he commented, taking a nonchalant step towards me. "Your beauty and your intelligence combine perfectly. Tell me, who are you?"

I needed to choose my next words wisely. How could I tell him that I would be the future ruler of my home-world without letting on too much that I was not human? I wanted respect of my standing as much as the next leader, but I'd already seen what happens when you're caught being different on a scale like this. And the sorcerer that was killed just yesterday and he was at least human. I couldn't even imagine the consequences if the king found out I wasn't even that. So I simply decided to tell the truth, but cautiously and leaving any details about not being originally from Earth out of the story.

"I also am heir to the throne. Not here, obviously, but a kingdom very far away." Okay. That sounded like a straight up lie. I could only hope that he was thick enough to buy it.

Unfortunately, he wasn't as dense as he looked.

"Is that so?" he asked with sarcasm pouring out of the statement. "And where would this kingdom be, may I ask?"

"To the west. Very long ride ride from here, but I've lost my horse and traveled on foot most of the way here. I met Merlin, here, a week or so back," I lied smoothly.

"You two are together then? As in this-"he gestured at Merlin, "-was traveling with royalty? Yeah, right." There was so much sarcasm pouring out of his mouth, but he still sounded authoritative. Of course he was the king's son.

"Yes he has, and he has been the nicest person I've met since coming to these lands as he has been friendly from the start. And unlike you, he has not acted like a prat, but has merely accepted me as who and what I am." I was trying to match his tone but without the venom of sarcasm leaking through which was especially difficult seeing as how it's apparently become a part of my personality.

He cocked an eyebrow at me and seemed to be deciding whether he believed my story. "You have given me no reason not to believe you, but then you also have not given me any proof that you were, in fact, heir to the throne of whatever land you come from. And where exactly did you say that was?"

"Uh, very far to the west. Much farther than any of your men have traveled. It was also much warmer there."

"Right, right, of course. How could I have possibly thought anything different?"

"I'm not sure, sire," I said coolly as I grabbed Merlin's arm and began to walk away.

"Oi, I could have you hung for those remarks!" Arthur called after me.

I turned around. "No, no, no. You couldn't possibly have me hung for those. I don't care who you are. Hanged yes," I said with a set of strange expressions crossing my face as I said it. "But you won't."

"And how can you be so sure?"

"It's not your destiny, nor your father's to." Merlin gave me a funny look. "Just as it's not my destiny to remain here for the whole night." Here I turned to face Merlin and his confused face. I was surprised he had kept quiet this long. Perhaps he couldn't quite find the right moment to interject, or he possibly just thought that I was doing a well enough job holding my own against the prince. "I'm sorry, and I'll explain further when we get back to Gaius's quarters, but I can't stay here after tonight. Every choice you make from here on out must be on your own; I can't interfere and the easiest way to make sure of it is if I leave."

"I guess you've already made up your mind, then?" I nodded. "No way to change it?" I shook my head. "And you're sure I can't come with you?"

"Yes, Merlin. I'm sure that you can't come with me. I promise to explain tonight. But first I have to deal with this." I said using Arthur's words from earlier. "Now, as for you, dear Arthur. Try to be nicer. Especially to your servants for you may find that one day, they will be your greatest friends and friends are always the best of you. Who knows? They may one day save your life."

I held out my hand as an offering of peace. He looked at me with a strange look on his face as if this wasn't normal. For him, I guess it wasn't. But he cautiously took it and shook.

"You may have called me a prat, but it was good to meet you in your brief visit to Camelot."

I bowed my head slightly as I left. Hey, I may be a bit of an ass at times, but I know how to show proper respect. Someone had to put him in his place, after all.


End file.
